Hoof boots for my pony, fitting and advice please!

[redredruby]

Hello! You may remember from previous threads about my little welsh X arab who had spent the first 5 years of his life pretty much unhandled and had never had his feet trimmed. As a result since I have had him he has been very foot sore.

With the help of an excellent farrier we have been trimming on a regular basis in order to bring them in at the heel (as they had flared) so that the foot structure can begin to lift and he isn't walking on his soles. We can now do this without any sedation at all - massive improvement.

He is significantly better, and happy to walk across flat surfaces, but still quite pottery on stony surfaces. The farrier says this is to be expected as it is only with the foot growth that he can reshape the hoof.

So......I was planning on getting him some hoof boots in order to a) make it more comfortable to the field and whilst doing a little bit of work and b) to allow his feet to grow more to give the farrier to work with.

A couple of people have suggested putting shoes on him but I think he should at least be sound walking to and from the field before I consider that but I am just prolonging his soreness by not shoeing him?

I read that when measuring for hoof boots it needs to be within 7 days of a recent trim however, he was trimmed 10 days ago - do you think that would be a big problem?

Are there any particular designs I should go for / avoid? Any advice really appreciated!

 

[Fransurrey]

Good for you, holding off on the shoes. I completely agree that he should ideally be sound without shoes and get the best foot before you decide whether or not to shoe for work. There are certain boots with a little more leeway for fitting e.g. Cavallos, Old Mac G2s and probably others.

I have Easyboot gloves for Henry, converted to Back country boots. Gloves by themselves weren't very good for staying on, as his feet are TINY! However, the Backcountry gaiters mean that I now get away with them being slightly slack, so if you want ease of putting on with some give, get Backcountry.

7 days or 10 days really depends on how much was taken off. At the moment, you're probably going to see his feet get smaller if anything. I think I'd err on the side of the Cavallos, as you can put pads inside and the fit is more flexible. Maybe move to Backcountry boots when you have an idea of what his final hoof shape/size will be.